January 1925


The following events occurred in January 1925:

January 1, 1925 (Thursday)

January 2, 1925 (Friday)

  • Fresh violence broke out around Italy as Benito Mussolini's crackdown on opposition newspapers continued. Fascists seized or attacked newspaper presses while at least three were killed in rioting. Mussolini met with King Victor Emmanuel III and requested dictatorial powers to quell the chaos. The king refused, but gave Mussolini tacit permission to act however he considered necessary within at least the appearance of constitutional legality.
  • Leo Chiozza Money testified before Britain's Royal Commission that an increase in the world's population had led to the country's food situation becoming as desperate as it was during the war. "The 10 pence price of bread has doubled in recent years and looking into the future there are good prospects of its doubling again", he stated. Money recommended a "department of supply" be created to remedy the problem.
  • Born:
  • *Giacomo Furia, Italian actor; in Naples
  • *Larry Harmon, American entertainer known for portraying Bozo the Clown; in Toledo, Ohio
  • *Eraño de Guzman Manalo, Philippine cleric and second Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo ; in San Juan City, Philippines
  • Died: Nikola Petroff, 51, Bulgarian wrestler

January 3, 1925 (Saturday)

  • Benito Mussolini made a pivotal speech in the Italian Chamber of Deputies. He took personal responsibility for the actions of his Blackshirts, challenged his political opponents to remove him from office and then promised to take charge of restoring order to Italy within forty-eight hours. Historians now trace this speech to the beginning of Mussolini's dictatorship.
  • Cyril Brownlie was sent off the field for foul play during a rough Test match against England during New Zealand's 1924–25 [New Zealand rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland and France|1924–25 rugby union tour] of Britain, Ireland and France. It was the first time such a severe sanction had ever been applied in an international rugby match. New Zealand won 17-11.
  • In a matchup of two of the best teams of the 1924–25 NCAA men's basketball season, the visiting 1924–25 [Princeton Tigers men's basketball team|Princeton Tigers] of the Ivy League defeated the Ohio State Buckeyes of the Big Ten Conference, 39 to 34, after trailing 15 to 22 at halftime. Both teams would win finish with only two losses and become champions of their conferences, with Ohio State at 14 wins and 2 losses. Princeton would finish with a record of 21 wins and 2 losses, and be retroactively selected by historians as the best team of the 1924–1925 season.

January 4, 1925 (Sunday)

  • Prefects throughout Italy received orders to control all "suspect" political organizations. Over the next two days, hundreds of private homes were searched, meeting halls were closed, political groups were disbanded and newspapers were seized.
  • Adolf Hitler, whose Nazi Party had been banned in Bavaria since the failed Beer Hall Putsch, met with the state's Minister President Heinrich Held. Hitler pledged total loyalty to Held and offered to help him in his fight against communists.
  • Born: Veikko Hakulinen, Finnish cross-country skier and gold medalist in three consecutive Winter Olympics games; in Kurkijoki, Karelian ASSR
  • Died: Nellie Cashman, 79, Irish-born prospector

January 5, 1925 (Monday)

  • Nellie Tayloe Ross became the first woman to be elected as the governor of a U.S. state as she was inaugurated as Governor of Wyoming. Ross had won a special election on November 3 to fill the remainder of the term of her late husband, Governor William B. Ross, who had died on October 2. Mrs. Ross succeeded Frank Lucas, who had served as acting Governor upon Mr. Ross's death.
  • The only two Italian Liberal Party ministers in Benito Mussolini's cabinet, Gino Sarrocchi and Alessandro Casati, turned in their resignations. They were to be replaced by loyal Fascists, who were now the only party in Mussolini's cabinet.
  • The stage comedy Is Zat So?, later to be made into a silent film, began the first of 634 performances on Broadway, making its debut at the 39th Street Theatre before moving to Chanin's 46th Street Theatre. Later in the year, a second production would open on London's West End at the Adelphi Theatre. The play was co-authored by James Gleason and Richard Taber.

January 6, 1925 (Tuesday)

January 7, 1925 (Wednesday)

January 8, 1925 (Thursday)

  • In Italy, A joint manifesto signed by the leaders of the parties "on the Aventine" condemned Mussolini's suppression of dissent, writing, "The whole country can bear witness to the fact that the pretext of this policy is a ridiculous lie as no conspiracy is threatening the country and no attempt has been made against the laws." The manifesto suggested that Mussolini resign.
  • In India, Bhanupratap Deo, the 3-year-old son of the late Lal Kamal Deo, was proclaimed as the new Raja of the Kanker State, a princely state within British India, and now part of the state of Chhattisgarh. He would rule until 1947, upon the independence of India and the abolition of princely states.
  • Born:
  • *Helmuth Hübener, German anti-Nazi youth activist; in Hamburg
  • *Mohan Rakesh, Indian playwright and the author of Ashadh Ka Ek Din, the first modern Hindi language play; in Amritsar, Punjab Province, British India
  • Died:
  • *George Bellows, 42, American artist, died of peritonitis following a ruptured appendix.
  • *Leo Koretz, 45, American lawyer and con man who masterminded the "Bayano Oil fraud", a Ponzi scheme that gathered $30 million from investors for false claims of oil fields, died in the Illinois State Penitentiary from diabetes.

January 9, 1925 (Friday)

  • British economist George Paish said that another war in Europe was inevitable unless Germany's reparations payments were reduced and the French were to leave the Rhineland. He also warned that "Germany will not make the mistake she made the last time, in having Russia as an enemy, but will have that nation as a friend. Germany and Russia will be able to overrun Europe and establish a military despotism."
  • Born: Lee Van Cleef, American film actor; in Somerville, New Jersey

January 10, 1925 (Saturday)

  • The British submarine HMS HMS L24 sank in the English Channel after colliding with the Royal Navy battleship HMS Resolution. All 43 men on L24 died.
  • The Ku Klux Klan was banned from the state of Kansas when its Supreme Court ruled that it was a corporation organized for profit and therefore could not operate there without a charter.
  • A clause in the Treaty of Versailles, requiring Germany to grant most favored nation trade status with the former World War One allies, expired and allowed the Germans to negotiate their own economic ties.
  • The deadline for the Allies to cease their occupation of the Germany's Rhineland passed without the withdrawal of French and Belgian forces. The government of France declared that the refusal was justified by "breaches of the disarmament clauses" of the Versailles Treaty.

January 11, 1925 (Sunday)

January 12, 1925 (Monday)

January 13, 1925 (Tuesday)

January 14, 1925 (Wednesday)

January 15, 1925 (Thursday)

January 16, 1925 (Friday)

  • Blues artist Huddie Ledbetter, more popularly known as Lead Belly, was granted a full pardon by Texas governor Pat Morris Neff, having served the minimum seven years of his prison sentence after killing one of his own relatives in a fight over a woman. Neff had been impressed by a religiously themed song about forgiveness that Lead Belly had written and performed for him during a visit he made to the prison the previous year.
  • Italy passed a new electoral bill containing a controversial provision for "plural voting". Double votes were to be given to academians, professors, those with diplomas, knights, military officers, those with any military decorations, officeholders, certain business personnel, all those paying a direct tax of 100 lira or more, and fathers of at least five children. Triple votes were to be given to members of the royal family, members of high nobility, cardinals, highly decorated war veterans, high officeholders, or anyone who met three conditions for double votes. The opposition blasted the provision as disproportionately favouring the wealthy, but Mussolini contended that it would help to encourage educated and productive Italians.
  • Died: Aleksey Kuropatkin, 76, Russian general and Imperial Russian Minister of War

January 17, 1925 (Saturday)

January 18, 1925 (Sunday)

January 19, 1925 (Monday)

January 20, 1925 (Tuesday)

  • The Soviet–Japanese Basic Convention was signed by Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister Lev Karakhan and Japanese Ambassador in China Kenkichi Yoshizawa, as Japan and the Soviet Union restored diplomatic relations severed during the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, and reached a number of agreements on matters that had previously been disputed between them. Japan agreed to withdraw troops from the northern part of the island of Sakhalin, which Japan agreed to withdraw from by May 15 in exchange for oil and coal concessions.
  • The Chamber of Deputies of Luxembourg voted to reject a treaty that had been signed with Belgium in 1924 by Prime Minister Émile Reuter.
  • Miriam A. "Ma" Ferguson was sworn into office as the Governor of Texas, becoming the second woman to assume leadership of a U.S. state after winning an election.
  • Germany's Chancellor Hans Luther and Foreign Minister Gustav Stresemann sent a secret memorandum to Britain suggesting a non-aggression pact between Germany and all nations with an "interest" in the Rhine valley, in return for a German guarantee to respect its post-war boundaries with France and Belgium.

January 21, 1925 (Wednesday)

  • Chancellor Hans Luther casually admitted in a speech to the Reichstag that his Cabinet had discussed changing the form of government, but had decided to remain a constitutional republic. The statement fueled charges from republicans that Luther was preparing to restore the German monarchy, as his Cabinet included several known monarchists.
  • The Soviet Union held mass demonstrations culminating in five minutes of silence in observation of the first anniversary of Vladimir Lenin's death.
  • Born:
  • *Charles Aidman, American actor; in Frankfort, Indiana
  • *Arnold Skaaland, American professional wrestler and manager; in White Plains, New York, New York

January 22, 1925 (Thursday)

January 23, 1925 (Friday)

January 24, 1925 (Saturday)

January 25, 1925 (Sunday)

January 26, 1925 (Monday)

January 27, 1925 (Tuesday)

  • The January Junta was established to restore Arturo Alessandri to power in Chile.
  • A number of injuries were reported in Berlin as rioting broke out among monarchists, communists and republicans during demonstrations held on the birthday of former kaiser Wilhelm II.
  • Alaskan Territorial Governor Scott Cordelle Bone gave the final authorization for a succession of dog sled teams to deliver the antitoxin to Nome to relieve the diphtheria epidemic, beginning the relay that would become known as the serum run to Nome">1925 serum run to Nome">serum run to Nome. "Wild Bill" Shannon was the first of 20 dog sled team mushers in a relay to deliver the medicine over the route from Nenana to Nome, Alaska.

January 28, 1925 (Wednesday)

January 29, 1925 (Thursday)

January 30, 1925 (Friday)

January 31, 1925 (Saturday)